First Zombifest a huge hit downtown

October 22, 2013

Downtown Cape Coral had its share of ghastly sights Saturday night as it hosted the first Zombifest Saturday on the corner of Southeast 47th Terrace and Southeast 11th Place, next door to Dixie Roadhouse.

The block party featured four live bands, plenty of food and drink, vendors, cool sideshows, contests and, of course, zombies - and those who would love nothing more than kill them.

Fans put on the bloodiest outfits they could find and headed downtown to hear some of the best new rock around, including performances from Ionia, XFactor1, One-Eyed Doll and Mushroomhead, the headliner.

Article Photos

CHUCK?BALLARO

Jimmy and Jeannie Serrago at the first Zombifest in downtown Cape Coral on Saturday.

From left, Doyt Allen, Laylah Oliver and Matt Hovious, all of Lehigh, enjoyed themselves at the first Zombifest in Downtown Cape Coral on Saturday.

Event organizer Ragen St. Peter said attendance was steady and it turned into a big event for the area, something they would do again next year.

"You always look for a venue, something controlled, especially when you charge at the door. With this venue, with the street and buildings on both sides, it's easy and inexpensive to control," St. Peter said.

And as happy as St. Peter was to have Mushroomhead, the feelings were mutual.

"I'm liking this a whole lot. We've done several of his events," said Waylon Reavis, lead singer of the band. "They've always been good to us. The best show we did was at the bar."

"We at 93X cannot thank Ragen and Mushroomhead enough for having the guts to do this," said 93X on-air personality Roach, who served as an emcee for the event. "Everybody believed in us in being able to do this."

And the fun wasn't confined to the block. Cape Coral residents Courtney Gray and Erica Brothers dressed up like zombie fairies and threw down some drinks at Dixie Roadhouse and at other establishments that took the zombies in.

"It was my first chance to see Mushroomhead. We just came in for a drink and to cool off a little," Gray said. "I can't make up my mind if I want a rock fix or a country fix."

There was a costume contests where the grand prize was a custom Zombifest guitar signed by all of the performing bands, Jagermeister drink specials and zombie pub crawl, which several local bars took part in.

Afterward, the afterparty was held at Dixie Roadhouse, where word has it the headliners did some line dancing.